


Screech

by lafbaeyette, PaperThinRevolutionary (SingFortissimo)



Series: 31 Fic Challenge [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Halloween, Haunted Houses, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 17:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12393246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lafbaeyette/pseuds/lafbaeyette, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingFortissimo/pseuds/PaperThinRevolutionary
Summary: John was crazy about haunted houses.Alex, on the other hand? He could hardly handle watching Hocus Pocus without getting too scared.





	Screech

Haunted houses were John’s shit. He loved them, loved the thrill of being scared and loved all of the craft and art that went into them. Even some of the low budget haunted houses back home had amazing makeup teams that made up for their slightly lacking props. And there was something to be said about the acting abilities that went into scaring teenagers shitless on a nightly basis. 

So, yeah, John was crazy about haunted houses. 

Alex, on the other hand? He could hardly handle watching Hocus Pocus without getting too scared. He tried to watch The Babadook with Lafayette and John, and he ended up hiding under a blanket sobbing before the halfway point. On the plus side, it meant the others ended up scooping Alex into their arms and holding him for the remainder of the movie. On the downside, for the next week he kept waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. So Alex, he wasn’t that crazy about the idea of going to a haunted house - but John was, and Alex was crazy about John. He would do anything if John asked him to, including going to one of the scariest haunted houses in New York City. 

“Blood Manor?” Alex stared at the promotional flyer, his stomach churning just at the thought. 

“It’s supposed to be so good!” John was already hype as fuck about going, he had bought tickets for all of them without thinking. “Seriously, they even give out free shirts if you piss yourself.” 

“That’s not a very good selling point,” Alex muttered, putting the flyer aside and trying to calm the nerves that were already building. “You got all of us tickets?” 

“Of course, I thought it’d be a great way to get into the Halloween mood, y’know?” John paused, studied Alex for a minute. “You don’t wanna go, do you?” 

“Pssh,” Alex couldn’t meet John’s eyes. “Of course I wanna go, it sounds… Sounds awesome.” 

“You don’t have to go with us, I know you cry watching scary movies so if -” 

“That was one time, and it was very scary.” 

“So, if you don’t want to go you don’t have to. I’m sure I can get someone to take the extra ticket.” 

“I’m going.” 

John watched Alex, saw the determination when he finally looked up and repeated, “I’m going.” He couldn’t help the smile that broke over his face as he wrapped his arms around Alex’s neck, too excited for words to be able to share this experience with his best friends. 

“This is going to be so awesome!” He kissed Alex’s cheek. “I’m gonna go tell the others, they’re gonna be psyched, Herc has been telling me about this place basically since we moved here.” 

And that is how Alex found himself standing in a three-block long line two nights later, his stomach twisted with nerves, his entire existence already on edge. He stood behind John anytime one of the actors came near them in line, trying to act casual and aloof but trembling inside. 

John was doing his best to keep him calm, though; he laced their fingers together and squeezed his hand whenever the actors would come by. The only thing he could think of was how to possibly make it up to Alexander when this was all over. He bit his lip a little, nosing at his hair now and then. He was trying to ignore the enthusiastic conversations of the other people in the line, and the eager giggles of Lafayette.

By the time they were getting to the front of the line, John had taken Alex’s place, giving Alex a spot sheltered between the three of them and the building, that way John could take the growing onslaught of actors coming the closer that they got to the door. He glanced back occasionally to Alex, and by the time they were nearly at the head of the line, he had to ask again; 

“You know you don’t have to do this. You can sit out, I’ll sit out with you. You don’t have to go through this.” He whispered softly and knit his brow. 

Ever the prideful little man, Alexander puffed up and shook his head. “Absolutely not. I can do this. I _have_ to do this.” He said, insistent as ever, despite the fact that his voice trembled just as much as his hands. 

John definitely didn’t like the sound of that, but he took Alex’s hand regardless and squeezed it just a little. “Are you absolutely certain?” 

There was hesitation there, _incredibly_ slight, but in all the time that John had known him, he was able to pick up on it. 

“I’m absolutely certain, I… Let’s do this.” He said softly. 

A nod from John, and he leaned down to give him a soft kiss. “Alright, You can tap out whenever you need to. Staff has to let us out if we tell them to.” He murmured and kissed his jaw very lightly. “I love you.” 

“Love you, too, John.” He murmured, eyes a little foggy already. 

This was going to be one hell of a ride. 

Once they were inside, it didn’t get any better. The line continued and the actors faded away, but suddenly you could hear the screams from inside. Banging on the walls. Alex was on edge, squeezing John’s hand and trying his damnedest to remain calm. They weren’t even technically in the scary part yet. Lafayette was thrilled, of course, kept bouncing from foot to foot and looked around in fascination with every scream they heard. 

“Did you hear, if you, ah, piss yourself you get a free t-shirt?” The question was directed at Alex, Lafayette could barely hide the smirk over his lips. Alex flipped him off. Hercules elbowed him in the side and Laf made an indignant noise. 

They finally reached the front of the line where they met an actor, leading them in groups at a time. Of course Lafayette was the first one in this group, meaning Alex was the fourth in line and at the back of his group. He clung to the back of John’s shirt as they entered the first room. 

The entire thing was a blur. 

Every few minutes someone new was jumping out at him, screaming in his face, or breathing down his neck. 

His knuckles were turning white from how hard he was gripping at the back of John’s shirt. 

He wasn’t sure how far into the house they had gotten when they stopped, John stepping back into him, all three of his friends screaming and his only reaction was, “ _WHY AREN’T WE MOVING?_ ” 

A face appeared in front of him, bloody and looking completely torn up, and a scream ripped from his throat at the surprise. He jumped away, also jumping away from his group and getting himself cornered. 

A hand took his, jerking him away and suddenly John had his arm around him and he felt momentarily safe. Despite his surroundings. 

He really didn’t even get to take in each room’s theme, honestly his eyes were closed through over half of it, or his face was buried in John’s shoulder. His heart was racing, beating out of his chest. 

_“Open your eyes, I want to play.”_

A voice whispered into Alex’s ear and he shrieked, jumping into a laughing John’s arms. 

“Are we almost done?” His voice wasn’t as steady as he would have liked, John stopped laughing immediately. 

“Do you wanna bail?” The room was dark, but Alex could see the honest concern in John’s eyes. The little girl that had whispered in his ear moments ago was suddenly next to them and Alex jumped. 

_“You can’t leave yet, don’t you want to play?”_

“No, but can we leave this particular room?” Alex whimpered, tugging at John’s hand. The girl’s scream echoed behind them as they caught up with Hercules and Lafayette in the next room, a zombie strip club from the looks of it. Lafayette was overjoyed at the set up, pointing at the actor on the stage. 

“This is the job I want.” He said, sounding so deeply unaffected by the horrors happening around him. It made Alex want to sock him. But then he remembered they were friends and he should not, _and then_ the zombie stripper climbed off the stage and Alex was pulling John out of that room as well. 

He was still screaming, and maybe whimpering, every few minutes, but he kept telling himself that they had to be near the end by this point. But the rooms just kept going, people kept coming, he was sure his throat would feel raw by the end of the night. 

At one point the lights cut out and all he could do was hold onto the back of John’s shirt for dear life as they moved through what felt like the world’s longest maze, hitting several dead ends. 

“Honestly, you owe me for doing this.” Alex muttered at one point, only to be met with John snorting before another actor reached out and grabbed Alex's ankle, making him nearly jump onto John’s back. 

Alex felt exhausted by the time they reached the end, emotionally and physically. They finally came out to the gift shop at the end and John turned to Alex, eyes heavy with concern as he reached up to cup the other’s face. 

“You're crying.” 

Alex hadn't even realized. He turned away from John and wiped at his eyes, discovering the wetness there and realizing that his face did have that weird stiff and sticky feeling that only came from tears. 

“No ‘m not,” He tried to deny, sniffling just a little as he started really catching his breath. He kept his back to his partner, but that didn’t seem to shake John off. He wrapped his arms around Alexander’s waist, pulling him so his back was flush to the other’s chest. 

“Baby, don’t do this,” John whispered and planted a kiss onto the top of his head. 

Through the whole maze, Alex had noticed John’s heartbeat staying completely steady. Never once had his heart-rate really spiked, but now, in the giftshop of all places? Alex could feel it, quick as a rabbit’s run, pounding in John’s chest. 

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you go through that.” He whispered, mostly to himself. “That was just selfish, fuckin’ _stupid_ , I’m so sorry, baby…” His nose was buried into Alex’s hair, and he held him tight. 

“Hey, hey. You had fun, right?” Alex rasped, his voice barely there. He _knew_ John did, at least before this point, so when he hesitated to nod, Alex turned in his arms, planted a gentle kiss on his lips. “I know you did.. Look at me?” He whispered, wiping his eyes one last time. 

John glanced at him, brows knit together and eyes dark with concern, even a weird bit of his own fear. Alex cupped his cheeks. “You had fun, right?” He asked again. 

Hesitation, then a slow nod. 

“That’s what matters right now, yeah?” He smiled and glanced up, finally laughing a little. “And look at that,” He murmured, gesturing to Laf parading proudly with a Blood Manor g-string in his hands. “They had fun. So what, I got scared? You all enjoyed it.” He tried to reassure, and he leaned in to give John a soft kiss. 

“Are you sure?” 

“As sure as I can be. Plus, remember our deal last week when you brought it up?” 

John hesitated a moment, then deflated and finally laughed again. “One haunted house per ten pumpkin patches?” 

“Exactly, loverboy. And we’re gonna go the full mile. Matching sweaters, cider, and a pumpkin. _At each one_.” Alex insisted and squeezed John’s hand. 

“Thank you for coming with me, really, I… I know you didn’t enjoy it, but it means a lot that you came.” John admitted as they walked to rejoin their group. 

“Anything for you, baby.” 

On their way out, they were lead by Laf with a full bag of merchandise, and Hercules trying to keep him from purchasing anymore. Alex slipped off from the group as silently as he could, returning back with a small envelope of his own before he could lose his group. 

John cocked his head and bit his lip. “What’s that?” 

Alex gave a small smile and handed it to him, and when John opened it, he couldn’t help but laughing. 

A photograph of Alex with pure terror on his face. It was actually _hilarious_ , captured at the exact moment that the smaller one had launched himself into John’s arms. 

“I figured we needed a keepsake of our own.” Alex said, trying to keep his raw voice from cracking any further. 

John laughed and kissed him softly. “God, I fucking love you. So what do you say we start early on the cider? Think it’ll help your throat?” 

Alex pondered for a moment and grinned. “Depends. Think we can get it with whiskey?”


End file.
